title: A longitudinal and comparative study of psychological distress among professional workers in regulated occupations in Canada.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although several studies are concerned by the phenomenon of psychological distress at work, few studies have looked at the prevalence of psychological distress among professional workers in the regulated occupations and compare this prevalence with other occupations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study propose to define regulated occupations by laying out the theoretical boundaries that apply to the practice of these occupations and try to understand how regulated occupations contributed to the experience of psychological distress in the Canadian workforce over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multilevel logistical regression analyses on longitudinal data were performed to compare the odds of experiencing psychological distress over time among professional workers in regulated occupations (n=276) and among other professional workers, classified into 6 categories (n=6731), over a 12-year period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that proportion of distress in the workforce decreases for all occupations between Cycle 1 and Cycle 7 of the NPHS, but this decrease is not linear over time. The results show also that regulated occupations present a lower probability of psychological distress only when compared with white-collar workers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that occupation contributes little toward understanding the prevalence of psychological distress in the Canadian workforce. Further research needs are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Sherbrooke University, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cadieux
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business Administration, Sherbrooke University, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D015995:Prevalence; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Work stress; mental health; multilevel analysis